HI guys, sorry for the delay, but I had to finish up something's in the chapter before posting it, and in addition I had to study for a Math final. Gah. Gah should be a word. Ranting! Either way, enjoy the chapter, and I wish you all the best for summer.

…

I forgot the disclaimer again didn't I. Phooey.

I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I don't own anything. Anyone object? No? Good.

Now on with the chapter.

Amanda could hear voices, but she couldn't tell what they were saying. Her eyes saw, but not well enough to tell what. She could tell that she was lying on a stone floor by the way it felt, and there was a sharp rock jutting into her back. She groaned softly as her senses cleared. Cam was talking to… someone. Amanda didn't recognize the voice. She was saying, "… and we have an oracle who tells us prophecies. She's mortal but can see through the mist. We didn't actually get a prophecy to go on this quest, because she was away, but-" She was cut off by Amy's voice, "I think Amanda is awake." When Amanda heard her name, she attempted to sit up. Upon doing so successfully, she blinked a few times and let her vision return to normal. With a quick glance around the surrounding area, Amanda was able to notice three things. #1. She was in a cave. #2. Amy was watching her intently to see if she was all right. #3. There were three other teenagers in the room with her questing group.

Amanda studied the three. Two had sheaths for swords, and one had a bullet on a string around his neck. She looked at Amy and Cam, and Cam mouthed, "Romans." Amanda meant to mouth the next sentence, but she ended up speaking it instead, "Why are they all the way on the East coast?" The boy with the bullet around his neck spoke, "We're on a quest." He stopped, finished with what he was saying. Amanda didn't exactly think that it explained everything. What kind of quest drags demigods all the way across the country? Well, actually, most of them, but that's not the point. Amy started to speak, "The boy who just spoke is named-" "I can introduce myself!" The boy cut her off. She shrugged as if to say, "Then do it."

The boy with the bullet around his neck said, "Hi. My name is Adrian." Amanda opened her mouth to ask who his parent was, but he saw her and said, "Chione," before she could. The only girl of the three spoke next, "Hello, I'm Mimi, and I'm the daughter of Venus." The final boy spoke, "Hi, I'm James, and I'm a son of Vulcan." Amanda took a few moments to figure out who the Greek equivalents of the three were. Once she had gotten everything in her head sorted out, she turned to Cam and asked, "What are we doing here?" Cam smiled and said, "Funny story. You suddenly dropped unconscious, so we brought you to this cave, but there turned out to be these three here. After introductions and explanations, I started telling them about Camp Half-Blood. We already know a lot about Camp Jupiter, so I thought they deserved to know a bit about us." Amanda turned to Amy for confirmation, and Amy nodded. There was a moment of silence before Adrian asked, "What were you saying about an oracle?"

Bethany was cold. Not as cold as she had been drenched in the Atlantic, but still cold. Megan had planned ahead apparently. As soon as JJ and her family had gone off, Megan had pulled out ice, belays, and other tools for climbing. Bethany resisted the urge to face palm when this happened. Now they were climbing, though they had yet to need the equipment. They had unanimously decided that walking up the Mt. Washington Auto Road would be much safer than attempting to scale the mountain.

It was definitely cold here, although not as cold as it should be. Bethany could vaguely remember Mr. and Mrs. Valentine talking how the weather was drastically different than usual. She hadn't really listened to the rest of the conversation. She had been a bit caught up in the conversation involving the attempted murder of her. It had been hard to focus on the weather (of all things!) while one was attempting guess who had been trying to murder her. Bethany pulled her thick coat around herself tighter. If the temperature wasn't giving the chills, the fear was.

"You said she was away. Where?" Cam was mildly sick of the three Romans' questions. They kept asking about Rachel, and Cam wasn't quite sure that she could tell them all that they were asking. Mimi had asked this question, and James and Adrian were talking in hushed voices to each other. Cam sighed, and said, "I don't think I can tell you that. You haven't been hostile so far, but we still don't know anything about you or your morals. I can't tell-" Amy tapped Cam's hand, and she stopped speaking. Amy whispered something in her ear, "Rachel went to the West coast. What if they saw her?" Cam looked at her for a moment. The look in her eyes confirmed that Amy wasn't joking. Probably. It was hard to tell with the children of Hermes. Cam turned back to Mimi and asked, "Why do you ask? Do you think you saw her? I already told you what she looks like." Mimi bit her lip and turned to the other two. They both nodded slowly but reassuringly.

"I think we may have seen her. She was near the beach in a town near our camp." Cam smiled and asked, "Did she say anything to you?" Mimi again looked to the other two. James smiled at her, and Adrian nodded. Mimi inhaled sharply, but said, "Before we left, she talked to us in a creepy voice and said things in rhyme. She gave us a prophecy, and that's why we're here."

Amanda spoke next, "What was it?"

Once again, sorry for the wait, I hope this was to your satisfaction, and please don't hate me.

Ramijek out.